Thoughts on BMW Insured Warranty renewal

Dan1502 · Post by **Dan1502** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:13 am

My renewal is due on 12 January 2013.

My E53 3.0D is very low mileage (just under 30,000) and a 54 plate.

The costs without excess and including breakdown cover are £1,179.81 for comprehensive and £982.03 for named component.

This year a steering rack was replaced under warranty after a bit of an argument with the dealer who initially tried to argue wear and tear due to the age of the car (and misdiagnosed the problem).

It will be due a service soon.

I am trying to decide whether to ditch the warranty and start using an independent for servicing or to continue with the BMW warranty and servicing bearing in mind that the cost of the warranty and additional cost of servicing won't be far off £1500.

If I was to stop the warranty it would be nice to have the codes checked before expiry in case there are any faults that I could get sorted before the warranty ends. How would I go about this?

I guess I'm trying to decide whether there are any stupidly expensive faults with these that make the BMW warranty worthwhile. I did have one such fault with the panoramic roof sorted uner the approved used warranty which turned out to be a manufacturing defect in the roof frame and would have cost thousands to fix.

Don Coffey · Post by **Don Coffey** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:25 am

Hi Dan,

BMW like most prestige dealers make a lot of their money from servicing, repair etc. it's been well documented that main dealership costs are hugely inflated. I needed the rear pads on a 520d replaced earlier this year. Dealers best price. £245. The pads alone were £130. Yet went to the local indy and got OEM pads with fitting for £100. To prove the point, as I arrived to drop off the car, a BMW parts van turned up and dropped of the pads. Can't get any more OEM than from the dealer!

I'm not a big van of dealership costs. As for extended warranty, I would do a little research on aftermarket companies to see how they fair once claims are made and look at getting a top policy cover from them.

Don

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:09 pm

I had cover with Warranty Direct for almost three years on my E53. It was about half the BMW Warranty cost. There are things it doesn't cover, such as the ICE and Nav, but the rest was included in their 'Luxury Car' policy. There may be an upper age limit at which point more items get dropped off the supported list.

WD did not pay for diagnostic work, and there was a £50 excess. When my transmission destoyed itself they paid for the rebuild and new Mechatronics unit (close to £3,500 all in) and I just paid £65 to BMW for the diagnostics, and the excess. I also had the choice of main dealer or Indy garage for carrying out repairs.

When the fuel pump relay packed up, the diagnostics were over £200 and the part £10.....so that bill hurt a bit more!

What you do have to watch is that WD have a cancellation charge, plus 30% of the policy.....so cancelling mid-year can result in sweet FA coming back to you.

Some folks have had issues with WD, but I never had anything to complain about - until cancelling the policy >:(

If you do get a quote from them, ignore the first offer and tell them you'll consider it. They almost always ring back a few days later with a revised (downwards) policy cost.

Richard

kkodal78 · Post by **kkodal78** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:40 pm

I had WD coverage which i was somewhat happy with. Reason i say somewhat is because of the coverage restrictions they had for the age and mileage of my car. Other than that i was happy with them. They got me new water pump and gearbox. I was happy.

snipez999 · Post by **snipez999** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:53 pm

I would simply ask myself the question - would you buy a car which did not come with the benefits of having been underwritten by a decent policy? Sod's Law states quite clearly that the minute your policy expires, your engine will self-implode LOL

Whitey · Post by **Whitey** » Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:28 pm

What ever you decide I'd definitely extend the warranty , only wish I did on my e70 , like you very low mileage only do about 5000 a year if lucky . Total at the mo 33.000 ish mile on her at the mo and I've owned it 2 years this mth

But less than a month after the warranty expired ( decided not to extend as selling next year , less than 5 mths ) the car breaks down 2 separate times with a total bill to the tune of £4270 with BMW giving a good will of £1200 on the first repair .

So the £1000 to extend is a no brainier , learn from your mistakes my granny always said , just a sore one to learn

Dan1502 · Post by **Dan1502** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:45 pm

I think I would stick with the BMW warranty if I do decide to continue as the age clauses on some of the alternatives aren't great and there it is generally easier to win an argument with the official warranty. It's just the total cost and having to have all work done by the main dealer that bugs me. I had a bad experience this year in that the problem was misdiagnoses, I was then told it wasn't covered due to wear and tear and also was told rear discs and pads needed changing due to a noise I'd pointed out when all they needed was a quick clean with a wire brush. The story is longer than that but were it not for my persistance and knowledge I would have ended up with a very large bill but in the end paid nothing.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts though. I just have to weigh up the risk and take my choice I guess.

Another example is that the parking sensors have intermittent problems. It could just be dirt. However the liklihood is BMW will charge me around £145 diagnostics even if there isn't a problem which puts me off having it investigated.

What about getting codes read? Does anyone live near Sale, Cheshire and have a reader?

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